3rd Week of Lent
Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full. (Matthew 18:26)
A man struggling during hard economic times receives two envelopes in the mail. One contains an offer to consolidate his debt into lower monthly payments. The other contains notification that he has won ten million dollars in a lottery. He sighs, throws the lottery notification in the trash, and begins getting his paperwork ready for his loan modification.
Doesn’t this sound absurd? But this is essentially what the unmerciful servant does in today’s Gospel. When his master confronts him about the massive amount of money he owes, all he asks for is more time to pay back the debt. It doesn’t even dawn on him to ask for anything else. His imagination is too limited: debts had to be paid. So it’s no wonder that he would apply this strict standard to a fellow servant who owed him a small amount of money. Rules are rules, and they must be followed!
Here’s some good news: We’ve won the lottery! In Christ, all of our sins are wiped away—completely. When we come to him in repentance, he doesn’t just give us more time to make up for our sins. He doesn’t give us a list of suggestions and one more chance to redeem ourselves. No, he casts our sins away from us, “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). He washes away our failures and puts us on the path of freedom and victory. And he promises to walk with us, helping us along the way.
Take some time today to ponder your heavenly Father’s generosity. Let the Holy Spirit expand your imagination so that you can envision the possibility of complete forgive- ness, the hope of every spiritual debt being canceled with no questions asked. Let this promise soak into your heart and transform the way you think. The more you under- stand God’s radical gift of mercy, the easier it will be for you to forgive the people around you. Don’t make the same mistake that the unmerciful servant made! Look to your merciful Father, and you will become merciful yourself.
“Father, shower me with your mercy today! Let me absorb deeply the forgiveness you have given me, and help me to be just as merciful toward the people in my life.”
Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Psalm 25:4-9
Daily Marriage Tip for March 21, 2017:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12:24) Has anyone close to you died who has enriched your life? Loss is always hard, but having a spouse to share it with makes it bearable.